[LCC] NAQP RTTY K5ER

[Scott Dickson, W5WZ]

Mark,

 

I am sorry that you had so much trouble (uhh, I mean fun) in the contest.
Your experience clearly points out one more reason to get in the shack and
make casual QSOs more often (to give Murphy more opportunities to unleash
his mischief).  If you do so, you increase the amount of time things can
break, and if you play the odds, Murphy will be more like to strike at a
non-critical time, like during your casual operating.

 

In fact, I once read a study done at the Top of High Mountain University
about this subject.  A scientist with a B.S. degree in Guru wrote it.  It
was titled "Murphy's Law Theories, P.F.T.A".  You should search for it.  You
stand to learn a lot.

 

--73,

--Scott

 

 

P.S.  Good job, even with all the excuses!

 

P.P.S.  Feel the love!

 

  _____  

From: Mark, K5ER [mailto:k5er at arrl.net] 
Sent: Monday, July 22, 2013 12:33 AM
To: lcc at louisianacontestclub.org
Subject: [LCC] NAQP RTTY K5ER

 

 

North American QSO Party, RTTY - July
 
Call: K5ER
Operator(s): K5ER
Station: K5ER
 
Class: Single Op LP
QTH: Louisiana
Operating Time (hrs): 
Radios: SO2R
 
Summary:
 Band  QSOs  Mults
-------------------
   80:   22    16
   40:   30    21
   20:   98    34
   15:   82    30
   10:    3     2
-------------------
Total:  235   103  Total Score = 24,440
 
Club: Louisiana Contest Club
 
Team: LCC #1
 
Comments:
 
First, thanks Don for getting the teams together and registered. To me,
this adds another layer of fun to contesting.
 
I broke one of the well known contest rules - don't change things the day
of the contest. I tried to load a new history file, and found that
Writelog imports an ADI format, while N1MM wants a comma de-limited file.
Ended up losing about 30 minutes at first of contest, so I accepted that
this would be part of my mandatory time off. The file worked pretty well,
with only about 6-7 of the names being incorrect, such as Richard rather
than Dick, Bob instead of Robert, etc. If you use these, DO pay
attention. At CTU in Dayton, it has been said more than once,
"Pre-fill can be pre-bust - if you don't check each and every
entry".
 
Speaking of breaking - if it could - it did. The cable of my headset
caught on the keyboard and yanked the headset off. The wire pulled enough
to cause a partial loss of audio in one speaker. Finally, I had a brief
run on 20 going when I felt a distinct drop in rate. I looked down and
saw the power output at about 20 watts - and the SWR sky high. Better
check the antenna - but wait, the analyzer failed while on loan the other
day. After first dis-assembling and repairing the RigExpert (broken
antenna port lead), I began to trace the problem. 20 meter section on the
BPF was toast. Since I do SO2R, and don't use stubs, I depend on the
BPF's to protect each radio from the other. Since I didn't want to go to
only one radio, I took time to repair the unit. Got to take mandatory
time off anyway, right? 
 
Back on again with no more "off-time", so got to make it good.
Not sure if I fat-fingered keys or what, but the computer locked up with
a radio in xmit mode. Had to shut down comp and both rigs. I didn't
initially notice it, but when re-starting, the band decoder locked ALL
SIX relays on the antenna switch onto the left rig. This also instantly
disabled any antenna from the right rig. Neither radio liked this
situation. Another complete power off and restart seemed to fix the
issue, but the BPF may have been damaged again by xmiting into a really
strange load (antenna and stack-matches for all six bands at once).
Dropped power levels to about 75% and decided to keep going.
 
It was about this point when my wife came in carrying her e-reader and
charger. The shell of the charger was in pieces and the plug had 2 of the
original 5 wires still connected. This is the lady who just that morning
had gotten up early and cooked me home made apple turn-overs. Of course I
stopped and fixed her device. By the time I got everything repaired, I
believe I could have worked more contacts in the European rtty contest
than what was left working the NAQP.
 
Still, a bad day in the shack beats a good day doing many other things.
I'm thankful that I had the experience, tools and parts available to
repair everything that broke this weekend. To my team, I think I managed
to keep Murphy busy here, so the rest of you could enjoy a good weekend
contesting without issue.
 
Nowhere near the points I wanted, but did enjoy what part of the contest
I was able to participate in. Got up Sunday and enjoyed Church with
family and spent a quiet afternoon with my wife. Still a pretty great way
to spend a weekend. Will just chalk this NAQP up to experience and look
forward to the next one.
 
73,
Mark, K5ER
 
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